ABSTRACT
Early identification of vision and hearing difficulties is always at the top of the list for practitioners working with children, and for good reasons. First, impairments in these sensory modalities are relatively common and, when significant, can permanently affect a child's development. Second, many of the impairments of hearing and vision are functionally correctable. Although hearing screening programmes, using physiological tests of hearing soon after birth, and orthoptic tests of vision in pre-school children are in place in some countries, including the UK, the imperative of early identification based on concerns, enquiry and observation of visual and hearing behaviour remains.
